2008 Woodie Awards
Can You Feel That PULSE?
By Hilary Brown
4/11/07 - Science & Technology
Imagine a technology that unites all disciplines. Imagine developments that could save the Earth and your eyes! Developments such as these take place every day at the PULSE laboratory.
The PULSE laboratory is an optical research facility located in the basement of the GRL Building. PULSE is an acronym for Photonics and Ultra-fast Laser SciencE. The group uses ultra-fast lasers to further the "understanding of fundamental physical, chemical, and biological processes," according to its website.
The group has seventeen students working in the lab and their numbers have reached up to twenty students in the past. Many undergraduate students work in the lab and complete their senior design course with projects allied with PULSE. Three faculty members share the lab space, Dr. Jeff Squier, Dr. Chip Durfee, and Dr. Frank Kowalski.
"The high intensity laser facilities and the nonlinear microscopy laboratory provided the seed for the laboratory and were originally located at the University of California San Diego.
Dr. Durfee had also already established a successful femtosecond laboratory here at CSM," said Dr. Squier. "I moved my lab from UCSD, and our research efforts were combined into the present laboratory space at GRL four years ago."
PULSE is home to two of the highest intensity lasers in the United States. These lasers are "femtosecond lasers." The pulses that emit from these lasers are only twenty femtoseconds long-"that's one millionth of a billionth of a second!" said Dr. Squier.
The extreme shortness of the pulses allows the lasers to reach very high peak power. "Remember that power is equal to energy divided by time and time is very, very small in this case," explained Dr. Squier. One of the lasers reaches a peak power of five trillion Watts. For comparison, the entire power generating capability of the United States is only 0.5 trillion Watts.
The PULSE laboratory is currently building what will be one of the highest intensity and highest peak power in lasers in the United States. It is expected to have 20 million Joules of energy per pulse. With each pulse lasting only 20 femtoseconds, this gives a peak power of approximately one trillion Watts. The laser will emit one thousand pulses each second. Overall, the average power of the laser is only 20 Watts.
The PULSE laboratory is an optical research facility located in the basement of the GRL Building. PULSE is an acronym for Photonics and Ultra-fast Laser SciencE. The group uses ultra-fast lasers to further the "understanding of fundamental physical, chemical, and biological processes," according to its website.
The group has seventeen students working in the lab and their numbers have reached up to twenty students in the past. Many undergraduate students work in the lab and complete their senior design course with projects allied with PULSE. Three faculty members share the lab space, Dr. Jeff Squier, Dr. Chip Durfee, and Dr. Frank Kowalski.
"The high intensity laser facilities and the nonlinear microscopy laboratory provided the seed for the laboratory and were originally located at the University of California San Diego.
Dr. Durfee had also already established a successful femtosecond laboratory here at CSM," said Dr. Squier. "I moved my lab from UCSD, and our research efforts were combined into the present laboratory space at GRL four years ago."
PULSE is home to two of the highest intensity lasers in the United States. These lasers are "femtosecond lasers." The pulses that emit from these lasers are only twenty femtoseconds long-"that's one millionth of a billionth of a second!" said Dr. Squier.
The extreme shortness of the pulses allows the lasers to reach very high peak power. "Remember that power is equal to energy divided by time and time is very, very small in this case," explained Dr. Squier. One of the lasers reaches a peak power of five trillion Watts. For comparison, the entire power generating capability of the United States is only 0.5 trillion Watts.
The PULSE laboratory is currently building what will be one of the highest intensity and highest peak power in lasers in the United States. It is expected to have 20 million Joules of energy per pulse. With each pulse lasting only 20 femtoseconds, this gives a peak power of approximately one trillion Watts. The laser will emit one thousand pulses each second. Overall, the average power of the laser is only 20 Watts.
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